


we can make it through the night

by jacksonwhipitmore



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Attempted Angst, Fraternities & Sororities, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, M/M, TA!Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 03:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksonwhipitmore/pseuds/jacksonwhipitmore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek may just be a TA, but if anyone found out about their relationship, he'd be in great trouble. And while Stiles wearing a leather jacket isn't exactly a neon sign, Derek doesn't like taking any chances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we can make it through the night

**Author's Note:**

> i'm really awful at writing angst. actually, i'm probably just awful at writing. does everyone hate their own writing? is that a thing?
> 
> i may have been watching "greek" before writing this.
> 
>  
> 
> **warning: at one point, stiles sleeps with a stranger and doesn't enjoy it. it's consensual, but he's unattached from it.** if you think i should put a "dub con" tag, PLEASE tell me and i will.

Stiles scrambles out of the mess of sheets and grabs the leather jacket before Derek can put it back on, wrapping himself in it instead. The older man's nostrils flare as he takes in the image of pale skin contrasted against the black material and the very-bare thighs. If Stiles had been smaller, the jacket would have covered everything, but the two are so similar in height that it covers nothing.

"What're you doing?" Derek asks. He balls his hands in the jacket and pulls the boy closer, noses almost touching. "I have class in ten minutes, Stiles."

"I wanna keep it, at least for awhile." Derek frowns at him. "Don't look at me like that; I'm not asking you to fuck me in it in the middle of the quad. I'm just asking you to let me wear it around for a bit."

"Stiles..." Derek may just be a TA, but if anyone found out about their relationship, he'd be in great trouble. And while Stiles wearing a leather jacket isn't exactly a neon sign, Derek doesn't like taking any chances.

"Nobody will find out about us, Der," Stiles assures him. He brings his hand up to scratch lightly at Derek's stubble and Derek can't help but to lean into the touch, prompting Stiles to press their lips together in a soft, chaste kiss. The smile he gives Derek when they pull back melts his resolve. "Besides, I don't have a jacket to wear home and it's raining."

"Don't wear it around campus," Derek mutters. "And definitely not to my class."

\---

Stiles stays at Derek's apartment long enough to shower after he leaves for class. As much as he'd love to stay and do his homework on Derek's couch and be there when Derek comes home, their relationship isn't really to that point yet. In fact, Stiles is pretty sure they're just a step ahead of friends with benefits. They haven't really discussed it, not since their first time.

They were both a little drunk, Stiles from a frat party and Derek from spending time with Cora, Erica and Boyd. They're not sure how it happened, just that they woke up sticky with Derek's arm thrown around Stiles' hips and no clothing to be seen.

They had tried to ignore what had happened, really. Derek liked to stick to the rules and he was pretty sure sleeping with a kid in your TA class was against the rules, whereas Stiles was just freaked out that he'd slept with his ridiculously hot TA and couldn't really remember it. But then Derek had to email Stiles for a meeting because he hadn't been to class in a week and he was dangerously close to failing.

That ended with sloppy blowjobs in the coffee shop restroom. (In retrospect, Derek knows he shouldn't have suggested the coffee shop, but he'd been awake for nearly twenty-four hours and was in desperate need of caffeine.) After they'd pulled their pants up, they talked. Derek admitted that he'd like to do it again, which Stiles eagerly agreed to. So, friends with benefits became a thing. And then, four weeks after that, Derek took Stiles on an actual date to a restaurant in the next town over. They haven't been on one since and it had been a month ago, so Stiles is still unsure of their "relationship" status. But then, Derek did just agree that he could have his jacket for awhile. So that was something, right?

\---

When Stiles returned to his room in the Alpha Sigma Phi house, he immediately changed into pajamas. He didn't have any plans for the rest of the day except for homework, so he didn't feel the need to wear jeans any longer than he had to.

Considering he's lived in the frat house for two years, he should've known that was a stupid thing to assume.

Not even thirty minutes after he lays down and opens his textbook, Scott bursts into their room with Isaac, Jackson, Lydia, and Allison in tow. They all have big grins on their faces, so Stiles knows they're all about to do something really stupid (last time, they'd stolen the Biology lab's plastic skeleton. Mr. Bones now proudly hangs from the beams in the basement of the house). Lydia raises a judgemental eyebrow at his pajamas because, according to her, if you're in your pajamas before midnight, you're a loser.

"Dude, Lydia got the keys to the planetarium!" Scott exclaims, pouncing on Stiles' back and effectively knocking the breath out of him for a moment. "We're gonna go get drunk and look at all the fake stars. Come on, Jackson already has the booze."

Stiles bucks up, causing Scott to fall to the floor, and raises his own eyebrows at Lydia. "And how, pray tell, has Ms. Martin managed to get the keys?"

She grins her flirty grin, shoulders going up in a shrug. "Oh, you know. The guards are very lonely. It's not exactly difficult to pickpocket them when they're distracted by pretty faces."

Jackson grimaces. Stiles is pretty sure he does, too. None of the security guards on campus are what you'd call attractive.

Stiles sighs and stands, pulling his clothes off without caring that Allison and Lydia are present (he'd slept with Lydia their senior year of high school so she'd seen everything, anyway, and it wasn't like he was going to pull off his boxers so Allison was safe to stay). He grabs his clothes from earlier and puts them on. He briefly considers wearing Derek's jacket. Instead, he grabs his old Beacon Hills track windbreaker and slips his feet into his shoes, gesturing for his group of friends to lead the way.

\----

He isn't sure why agrees to come to these things. Basically anytime they all want to go somewhere alone, without a bunch of the other ASP brothers, to get drunk, everyone ends up coupling up.

So while Scott and Allison and Jackson and Lydia are making out in the seats at the top of the planetarium, Stiles and Isaac are lying on the floor at the bottom near the projector. They're passing the bottle of Jack back and forth, pointing to stars that look like funny shapes. Isaac points to a group of them that looks like a penis and Stiles laughs so hard he wheezes. He hears Allison giggling at him. Because when they get drunk, they revert back to fourteen-year-olds.

Stiles feels Isaac scooch closer. He turns to look at him, eyebrows raised in an amused "what are you doing?" way. Before he can react, Isaac is pressing his lips to Stiles'. It's not the first time they've done that. Their freshman year, they'd slept together pretty much anytime they'd gotten drunk or had been bored. But this is the first time it's felt _wrong._ There's not enough stubble burning his cheeks and the kiss is more gentle and sweet than Derek's ever are. He rips his head back, hitting the floor painfully, with wide eyes.

"I'm seeing someone," he blurts. Isaac opens his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.

"You're seeing someone?" Isaac asks, frowning. "Since when? You haven't said anything."

Stiles sits up and rubs a hand over his face. Tries to think of a lie he can tell without really lying. Isaac's voice hadn't been quiet, so now everyone was listening and Lydia Martin could sense a lie a mile away. "The, uh, guy isn't out yet. Didn't want me to tell anyone."

"Stiles Stilinski is someone's dirty little secret?" Jackson asks, coughing to cover a laugh. Lydia hits his chest with the back of her hand. Stiles feels his face twist into something similar to a grimace. Because, while he doesn't want to think about him and Derek like that, Jackson isn't exactly wrong. Their relationship isn't something that they can parade around and Derek is so paranoid that he almost didn't let him take his jacket.

"When he's ready to... Come out," Allison begins gently. Stiles looks back at her, but she's glaring at Jackson (and, despite her dimples, Allison is fucking terrifying; Stiles is surprised Jackson hasn't run away screaming). She turns to smile at Stiles. "You'll introduce us, right?"

He scratches at his cheek and shrugs. "I don't know. It's kind of up to him, isn't it?"

"How long have you been together?" Scott asks. His face clearly shows that he's concerned, maybe a little guilty that he hadn't noticed his best friend was in a relationship.

"Uh, it started after Rush week? So since August?"

"You've been with someone for three months and you managed to keep it from us?" Jackson asks. He sounds a little bit impressed. Stiles just shrugs again. 

They agree to drop it after that, the couples coming back down and sitting next to Isaac and Stiles. Scott snatches the bottle of Jack away from Isaac and takes a drink. Much to Jackson's chagrin, they only talk about classes after that. Lydia berates him for falling so far behind in all of his and it's Stiles' turn to laugh.

The group staggers back to the ASP house, laughing anytime one of them almost trips. The only one not stumbling around is Lydia and Stiles makes a mental note to ask how she does it.

Lydia pulls Jackson upstairs to his room, with Allison laughing and shoving Scott right behind them. Stiles makes his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water and hears Isaac follow him. They don't say anything for awhile. Isaac just watches as Stiles tries to find the glasses (the pledges keep moving them as a sorry excuse for a prank -- Stiles thinks maybe they should teach them how to pull a real prank). When he finally finds them, he gets some water and takes a drink, turning around to raise an eyebrow at the other man.

Isaac sighs. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. If I had known you were seeing someone, I wouldn't have tried to kiss you."

"No, man, I know," Stiles manages to get out. He feels a sense of pride when the words aren't slurred. "Don't worry about it."

Isaac nods and mutters a "goodnight," making his way back to the stairs. Stiles chugs the rest of his water and pulls his phone out to see if Derek had texted him at all, but the only notification he has is from his dad.

\---

The next day, Derek invites him over for dinner. He texts the invite during class, while Dr. Deaton is lecturing, and Stiles looks up at Derek to see him smiling softly at him. Stiles nods as subtlety as possible, texting back his affirmation with a smiley face, and Derek goes back to grading papers.

Stiles takes a deep breath. He'd been chewing on his lip all day, trying to think of how he's going to tell Derek about Isaac kissing him. He's pretty sure he can't get too angry -- Isaac had kissed _him_ and Stiles had pulled back not even a full second later. Not to mention, they'd never actually agreed to be exclusive. Stiles isn't even sure if Derek isn't sleeping with other people on the nights when he tells Stiles he's too busy for him to come over.

He thinks he might tell Derek after class, wait for all the students to shuffle out. That way, if Derek isn't okay with it, he doesn't have to go through the trouble of ordering enough take-out for the two of them. But then Lydia is pulling him out by his elbow and talking about him buying her coffee. And he's never really gotten the hang of telling her no, so he only has time to look back at Derek's amused face as she yanks him out the door.

At the coffee shop (the same one he and Derek had exchanged blowjobs in, which is something Stiles is desperately trying to not think about), Lydia is frowning at him. She's not saying anything, just eyeing him like he's a puzzle she can't figure out while Stiles just fidgets and shifts in his seat.

When the waitress brings their coffees and Stiles' muffin, he finally says, "Oh my God! Why are you staring at me like that? What did I do?"

"Besides not telling me that you were dating someone?" she asks over the top of her ridiculously complicated latte. She reaches over to steal a piece of his muffin and Stiles is so used to her doing it that he doesn't try to stop her (and if it had been anyone else, he definitely would have -- he's not particularly fond of sharing food).

"I'm not technically dating anybody. That would require going on more than one date," he says. Lydia hums, unable to say anything while chewing. 

"Stiles, do you remember our senior year of high school?" she asks after she swallows.

"When we had sex?"

"No, when Danny dated Greenberg before Greenberg was ready to tell anyone he was gay." Stiles cringes, knowing exactly where she was going with this.

Their senior year had been kind of crazy. Jackson and Lydia had broken up for what everyone believed to be the last time, Scott and Allison were "off" for more than a week. Lydia and Stiles started sleeping together because they were both single and bored. Jackson, when he found out, tried to make out with Allison, and Scott actually started dating Isaac.

The thing that brought the group back together, though, was Danny dating some unknown guy who was still in the closet. In the end, Danny felt like _he_ was still in. And it kind of made him go crazy. Like, sleeping with every guy he could get his hands on and drinking out on the preserve alone crazy. Everyone tried to get him to break up with the guy, or at least tell them who he was. But Danny wouldn't even tell Jackson or Lydia. The only reason anyone had found out about Greenberg was because he'd attacked Danny in the locker room when he heard about Danny's weekends at The Jungle.

"The secrecy made Danny feel like absolute shit, Stiles," she reminds him. "Danny, who might just be an actual ray of sunshine. And I remember you not having as high of self-esteem. You especially weren't the happiest person before you told everyone you were bi."

"What are you trying to say, Lydia?" Stiles asks grumpily.

"I'm not going to try to tell you to break it off. I'm not that kind of person, and I know exactly how stubborn you Stilinski men can get. I just want to know if you've thought about this -- and I mean _really_ thought about it," she says. She reaches across the table and laces their fingers together, squeezing tightly. "Because I care about you, Stiles. We all do, and the only thing we want for you is for you to be _happy_. Even Jackson."

Stiles snorts at that, making Lydia roll her eyes.

"I am happy. I like him, Lydia; he's a really, really great guy."

"Yes, but is he worth everything?"

He stares at her, wonders just how much she knows. Wonders if she knows who he's seeing and just how much both of them could lose if anyone found out. But she just smiles and goes back to drinking her coffee, starts talking about what Deaton had lectured about.

\---

When Derek opens the door, he kisses Stiles lightly before jogging back to the kitchen.

"Oh, God. You're actually _cooking_ ," Stiles groans. He lets his bag fall to the floor and goes to sit at the bar, watching Derek move around as he prepares everything. He glances up at Stiles, his amused expression back.

"Of course I'm cooking. I invited you over for dinner," he says. "It's almost done. Could you get the plates and forks and put them on the table?"

"Yeah, sure. What're you making?" Stiles asks. He puts his hands on Derek's hips when he walks behind him, pulling the silverware drawer open as he leans over Derek's shoulder to try and to see the food.

"Coconut curry chicken. Now go set the table and stop distracting me."

Stiles grins against his shoulder, pressing a kiss to it.

They eat in a comfortable silence. Mostly because Stiles is shoveling the food in like someone's going to take it away because it's so _good_. Derek keeps blushing and smiling at him everytime Stiles moans or says, "So fucking awesome." When they're done and the dishes are in the dishwasher, Stiles falls onto Derek's couch with a groan, hand petting his stomach.

"You've been holding out on me, Derek," he says. Derek lifts his feet up and sits down, pulling them over his lap. He raises an eyebrow down at Stiles. "Don't look at me like that. You had me eating Chinese take-out last time when you could've cooked."

"I didn't have the time," he shrugs. "We don't exactly schedule these... Get-togethers."

Stiles hums, but starts shifting nervously. He knows he should be telling Derek about Isaac. But Derek basically just said that they're not dating, didn't he? But the little voice in his head, the one that sounds suspiciously like actual Disney princess Allison, is telling him that he has to tell the truth. After all, isn't he curious to know whether or not Derek is kissing other people or sleeping with them?

So Stiles sits up, pulling his feet away Derek's lap, and bites his lip. Derek, who had let his head fall back onto the back of the couch and closed his eyes, turned his head and opened them to look at Stiles. "I have something to tell you." Derek hums curiously. "Uh, I've told you about Isaac Lahey, right? Well, he, uh, he kissed me."

Derek tenses. Clears his throat, looks down at Stiles' knee instead of his face. "Did you... Kiss him back?"

"No! No, I pulled back as soon I as realized what was happening. And he apologized when I told him I was seeing someone." Derek's eyes snap to his immediately. "I didn't tell him _who_ I was seeing! I told them I was seeing someone who's still in the closet."

"Them? Jesus, Stiles, how many people know?"

"No one knows about you specifically!" Stiles exclaims. "Are you seriously more angry about a few of my closest friends --- friends who would never tell anyone my secrets, by the way --- knowing I'm seeing a nondescript person than you are someone kissing me?"

"My reputation could be ruined! I could lose my job." Derek shouts. "I thought you were mature enough to handle this, Stiles!"

"That's not fair. We've been seeing each other for three months and I've managed to keep it from my _best friends_ because I don't want to stop this. My reputation could be ruined as well, by the way." They're both standing at this point. Derek is running a hand through his hair and Stiles is breathing hard. He's maybe a little angry at himself for thinking Derek would care that he'd been kissed by someone else. "I know that you have more to lose than I do, but it's not like people would be jumping to hire the kid who slept with his TA. It's not like the Board wouldn't be curious to know if our relationship had anything to do with my grades."

He moves towards Derek, to grab him or hold his hand or something. He doesn't even know. But Derek moves away, flinching back like Stiles is dirty or dangerous.

"We don't have a relationship, Stiles," Derek snaps. "We have sex. Sometimes we eat food together, yeah. But it's _just sex._ I should've known better than to start this. I shouldn't have agreed to... I could lose my _job_. Fuck, this could ruin me!"

Stiles just... Stops, his stomach dropping like a stone. He thinks he might be about to throw up the chicken he just ate. "I've been meaning to ask what we are for awhile now. I guess I now know."

Derek stops pacing to look at him, eyebrows furrowed. "Stiles, I didn't..."

"No, I get it. I'm just a convenient student. Possibly one of many? I don't know. But I'm not worth your reputation. God, no one is. And I get that, I do. I'm just going to," he gestures wildly at the door. His feet must get the memo before his brain does because he's walking towards it and grabbing his bag off the floor a second later without really meaning to. He doesn't want to leave it like this. He doesn't want three months of getting to know each other between marathons of really great sex to go to waste because they had one fight. He doesn't want to _give up_.

But Derek doesn't try to stop him when he opens the door to his apartment. Doesn't say anything when Stiles mutters, "See you in class, Mr. Hale," before shutting the door behind him.

He doesn't swing the door back open and run to him and apologize because this isn't a romantic comedy where the couple is "meant to be." This is real life and real life is _hard_.

\---

Scott takes him to a bar as soon as he gets home. They've been best friends since preschool so Scott knows Stiles' "I was just recently dumped" face. So Scott whistles loudly and rounds up all the brothers and they go to the local bar and they get smashed. Stiles goes home with the bartender because he's twenty-two and that's what people who are twenty-two do.

The sex isn't great. It's not even good, actually. The guy is rough and sweaty and comes before Stiles, but Stiles had already gone soft so he guesses it doesn't really matter. As soon as he passes out, Stiles gets dressed and leaves.

When he gets back to his room, Scott is asleep with Allison curled over his chest. She's moaning in her sleep because she's weird and has been doing that since God knows when. (Stiles had been really freaked out the first time she'd slept over, but Scott had laughed the next morning and assured him that he wouldn't have sex with her while Stiles was in the room, promised that she always does that. Admitted that it'd freaked him out at first, too.)

Derek's leather jacket is laying on Stiles' bed. He's only a lot ashamed to admit that he cuddles it until he falls asleep.

\---

Stiles wants to skip Deaton's class the next day, but Lydia hits him with his pillow until he gets out of bed. She marches over to his closet and starts throwing clothes at him. He huffs and yanks his shirt over his head, glaring at her.

"You're not failing out of the only class we have together just because you got dumped by some low-life," she says. "You're better than that, Stilinski, and we're going to prove it to whoever it was that had you lying to your best friends for three months."

"You didn't seem to care when I was skipping my morning classes," Stiles points out he slips into the jeans she gave him.

"That's because I wasn't aware that you were skipping. And I've already yelled at Scott, so he's going to start waking you up every morning until you stop wallowing. If he doesn't, I've given Jackson permission to come in and wake you up any way he can think of."

"You're the worst."

Lydia rolls her eyes, but she's so incredibly fond of him that she runs a hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp, and kisses his forehead. "Come on, Stiles. We have class."

Usually, Lydia will sit in either the front of the class or the middle. She never sits in the back because she claims it's where the stoners and underachievers sit and she refuses to associate with them in the slightest. But today, she walks right past their usual seats and going right to the back row, allowing Stiles to slide into the row before she did so that she could sit on the end.

Stiles didn't look up when they entered the room and hasn't looked back towards the front since they started climbing the steps, so he isn't sure what he's expecting when he finally sits and is forced to look. He definitely wasn't expecting Derek to be sitting beside Deaton's desk, laughing as two girls talked to him.

Stiles had been in bed all morning, pitying himself for basically breaking up with Derek, wondering if Derek felt as bad as he did.

"Wow." He doesn't mean to say it aloud, but there it is. Lydia shoots him a confused look as she pulls her laptop out. Class is about to start so it's gotten quieter since they walked in, so when Derek laughs again, Stiles can hear it perfectly. Lydia follows his gaze.

She looks like she wants to say something, but Deaton stands and clears his throat. Stiles tries to take notes, but he's too distracted by Derek, who's passing out the papers he'd been grading yesterday. He wonders if he sinks down in his chair enough if he'll disappear altogether.

It takes awhile for him to get to 'M', but when he does he starts moving toward his and Lydia's usual seats before realizing they're not there. He stands there for a second before moving to put the paper at the back of the stack until Lydia gently clears her throat, raising her fingers in a small wave when he turns to look at her. He doesn't even look at Stiles when he hands her the paper.

A few minutes later, he still doesn't look at him despite handing him his own paper.

\---

Stiles takes to skipping the class after that. Lydia doesn't ask and surprisingly doesn't force him to go, just lets him look at her notes after each one so long as he buys her coffee.

No one, not even Jackson, mentions that he still sleeps with the leather jacket that no longer smells like Derek.

It takes him two weeks two see Derek outside of class again and he wants to kick himself even more when he sees Derek at the bar, grinning at the pretty brunette sitting next to him. If it weren't Danny's birthday, he would've walked back out the door.

Halfway through the night (and maybe the fiftieth time he flicks his eyes over to Derek, only to see he still hasn't noticed him), he realizes he's being dumb. He's, of course, realized that before then, but this time he really _gets_ it. He's tired of moping around. He's sure his friends are tired of him moping around. The other day, he'd heard a pledge talking about him being so depressing.

So he sits up straight, startling everyone. When the waitress comes back, he orders six shots of tequila with a grin and Isaac actually hollers excitedly.

"It's about damn time, Stilinski!" Danny says, clapping him on the shoulder. "Alright, guys, it's time to get this party _started_."

When shots are delivered, Stiles raises one in Danny's direction before downing it.

"Shots, shots, shots!" Scott yells, bouncing in his seat. Stiles slams the first down, then the second, third, and fourth. He reaches for the fifth, but Isaac beats him to it, downing it quickly and grabbing the sixth. Stiles fist pumps the air.

"More shots!" he shouts. He can't help but look back at Derek, who's now staring at him. The pretty girl he was sitting with is staring as well, grinning over at them. She turns to say something to Derek, but he shakes his head quickly. She frowns and tugs on his arm.

Stiles turns his attention away from them, opting instead to smile at his friends.

"Okay, okay," he says. "I'm sorry I've been such a Debbie Downer the past few weeks. To make up for it, I suggest we do more shots because of reasons."

Jackson snorts, but when the waitress brings more shots for everyone, he tips his head back and lets the liquid slide down his throat. "What else? Just shots isn't going to make up for it, Stilinski."

"Pranks, Jackson. Pranks," Stiles says. "Because let's face it --- our pledges fucking suck at it. And if I have to search for cups one more time, I'm going to blow the entire ASP house up."

"Pretty sure that's illegal," a new voice says. Stiles looks up at the newcomer to see Derek and his date. She's pulling a chair up for Derek, but scooches in beside Stiles herself. "But I _love_ pranks."

"Mr. Hale," Lydia greets. She slides one of her shots over to him. His date steals one of Stiles'. "Are we allowed to be talking about pranks in your presence?" Derek shrugs.

" _Mr. Hale._ Oh, God, that's adorable," Pretty Brunette says. "I forgot people were supposed to call you that."

"Hi, I'm Allison! Are you Mr. Hale's girlfriend?" Allison asks, dimpling at her. Derek chokes on his drink, eyes flashing to Stiles' immediately. Stiles averts his own gaze back to Pretty Brunette.

"Oh, no. Gross," she says. "I'm his big sister, Laura."

"Your sister," Stiles says, his chest untightening for the first time in weeks. He looks back at Derek, who nods a little. Laura looks at him in confusion.

"Yeah, Derek doesn't really date," Laura says, shrugging. "Oh! But Cora mentioned last time we talked that you were seeing someone? Are you? Am I going to get to meet him?"

Derek clears his throat and reaches forward to grab one of Stiles' shot glasses and says, "We're not together anymore."

"Oh, man. It's like Break Up Central over here," Danny groans. "Stiles over there was recently dumped, too."

"Yes, but Stiles is over him, Danny," Lydia says.

Jackson snorts into his shoulder. "Yeah, after moping around for three weeks. We're lucky he even showered." Lydia elbows him in the stomach.

"Who would want to break up with you? You're absolutely adorable," Laura says. She reaches up to pinch his cheek. "Isn't he, Derek?"

Stiles flails, smacking Laura's hand away from his face, and downs another shot. "One, it wasn't a serious thing; it was just sex. Two, I wasn't moping." He's pretty sure he hears Jackson mutter something about the leather jacket and Stiles really hopes Derek hadn't heard him as well. He decides to avoid looking at his stupid face, just in case. "Three, we're getting way off topic. Pranks. We need to some really awesome ones."

"Yeah, the pledges have been doing some pretty awful ones, haven't they?" Scott says. He wrinkles his nose. "Last time, they emptied out my Coke bottle and put water and soy sauce in it."

"He threw up for an hour," Allison laments.

"Right. I'm actually scared that their next step is going to be the laxative brownies," Stiles sighs. "I don't want that to happen, okay, because my butt is a precious thing."

Lydia scowls. "Can we _not_ talk about your butt?" Stiles waves her off.

"Okay, so who's your opposing house?" Laura asks. She looks really excited, like she might actually get off on the whole thing. "That's still a thing right?" She looks at Derek for confirmation, who just shrugs.

"Uh, I think it would be if the Alpha Sigmas weren't the number one house on campus," Isaac answers.

"Besides, we're not really allowed to pull pranks on other houses," Danny says.

"It's never stopped you before," says Derek. It's the first time he's spoken, except for when he told Laura about the breakup. "I remember last year, you guys set farm animals loose in the Alpha Chi Omega house."

Stiles grins, chest puffing out proudly. "Oh man, that was my best prank." He reaches over the table and high-fives Scott. Derek raises an eyebrow.

"That was your idea?"

"Well, Scott was reading Animal Farm when I came up with it," Stiles says. Scott takes a shot and starts jumping in his seat.

"What if we put a dead fish in the Alpha Chis' air vent?" he asks.

"That is a good idea, Scotty, but we will put it on the backburner," Stiles said. Because he wasn't above handling dead fish for a prank, okay? But his last prank had involved _farm animals._ He needed something of the same magnitude or bigger.

"Come on, guys, do we have to target the Alpha Chis?" Danny groans. Everyone stops what they're doing to look at him, except for Derek and Laura. Laura had given up on the shots, going back to drinking some green drink in a fancy glass, while Derek was trying to look anywhere but at Stiles.

"Danny," Stiles starts. "Daniel Mahealani, if you are uncomfortable with pranking the Alpha Chi Omega house because you just so happen to be dating their president, I will duct tape you to the wall."

"It's a new relationship, Stilinski! Somehow, I don't think Ethan will be too happy if I'm involved in a prank against his house."

"When _I_ was dating Ethan, I didn't stop pranking them!" Stiles exclaimed. 

"You dated Ethan?" Derek asks the same time as Danny shouts, "And you two broke up!"

Isaac leans across Stiles, putting his hand on Stiles' thigh, towards Derek and says, "Stiles has kind of dated everyone. He's even slept with Lydia, Danny, and me."

"Isaac, could you please not tell Mr. Hale things about my personal life?" Stiles begs. Derek tenses immediately, face going blank and eyes going hard. "Jesus, who does that?"

"Isaac?" he asks. "Isaac Lahey?"

Isaac beams, completely unaware that Derek is basically glaring at him, as he moves back. Stiles is staring down at the hand that's still on his thigh. "Yeah, has my reputation preceded me?"

Derek turns his glare on Stiles. They probably only stare at each other for a few seconds, but it feels longer than that. Stiles thinks that maybe he sees hurt flash across his face, but then Derek is standing. He throws a few bills on the table. "I'm going to head home, Laura. It's getting late, I have classes tomorrow, and it's kind of inappropriate for me to be spending this much time with my students anyway."

"Yeah, no. Of course. Do you want me to come with you?" she asks. She doesn't look like she wants to go, but she's halfway to reaching for her bag when Derek shakes his head.

"No, it's fine. You stay and have fun." And then he's gone, walking away and out the door.

\---

In the end, Laura admits that, when she was in a sorority, they broke into their opposing sorority's house and put wax on every surface (with the exception of the stairs because they weren't barbarians). According to her, the first girl to wake up was the only one who got seriously hurt, and she only bruised her tailbone.

So they ask if they can steal the idea and she shrugs, says that she'd gotten the idea from one of her sorority's Alumni's. She then pays for all their drinks, smiling at Danny and wishing him a happy birthday, and leaves, saying she still has to catch an early flight the next morning and has already stayed out too late.

They all desperately want to pull the prank off tonight, but Lydia and Allison point out that they're way too drunk for it and they agree that maybe dealing with wax while drunk isn't the best of ideas.

When they get back in their rooms at the APS house (except for Allison and Lydia, who decided to return to their own sorority), Scott is out before he even hits the pillow. Stiles had hoped he'd be the same way, but he tosses and turns for an hour before flopping on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

His fingers are tapping at the leather jacket when he makes up his mind. He doesn't even bother changing out of his pajamas, just pulls the jacket on over his shoulders and shoves his feet back into his sneakers.

He gets stopped at the door by one of the pledges, wondering where he was going, but he just waves them away and heads out. He doesn't get in his Jeep because, while he is more sober than he was an hour ago, he isn't completely sober and he's still the Sheriff's son. So he doesn't stop walking until he's in the elevator of Derek's apartment complex, wondering too late if Laura is staying with Derek or at a hotel. He hopes for the latter.

When the elevator opens for Derek's floor, Stiles can see a dim light shining underneath the crack of his door, meaning he's either still awake or had fallen asleep on the couch. Stiles knocks firmly, but softly, mindful of the neighbors.

It takes awhile for the door to open, but when it does, Derek is halfway done saying, "Laura, I told you I was fine."

He pauses when he sees Stiles.

"I guess that answers my question about where Laura is staying."

Derek swallows noticeably, eyes going back and forth between Stiles' face and the leather jacket. "Stiles. What are you doing here?"

"You're dumb," Stiles states. Derek raises an eyebrow. "I'm totally mature enough to handle this, to handle us. In case you hadn't noticed earlier, my friends don't even _suspect_ you." He pauses and amends, "Okay, Lydia might. But that's because she's got an IQ over one-hundred-and-thirty, alright? Nothing ever gets past Lydia."

"Stiles..."

"No, no. I'm not done!" He leans forward and presses his hand to Derek's mouth. "I don't know if you were sleeping around with other people when we were sleeping together. But I know that when Isaac kissed me, it felt wrong. And we've kissed before and it's felt completely right, okay? I used to love Isaac's kisses." Derek's eyebrows are getting grumpier and grumpier by the second, but Stiles charges ahead. "But with him, it always felt unnecessary and just a means to an end. With you and me? I can't get enough of your fucking mouth. I think about it _all the time_. During class, in the shower, on coffee dates with Lydia. I don't even think about having sex with you constantly, I just think about your mouth. Or cuddling with you after classes on that damn couch! And, ever since you cooked for me, I think about you making me delicious food and having stupidly domestic morning sex.

"I've been cuddling with your fucking leather jacket, even though it doesn't even smell like you anymore, because I've missed you. And I know that this isn't a movie, okay? I know that we might not be meant to be or soulmates or whatever. But I just wanna _try_. So I'm going to take my hand off your face and you're going to tell me yes or no. If you tell me yes, I demand that you fuck me in this jacket because I can't stop thinking about that being a thing. And I'll actually stay the night and you can make me waffles and coffee in the morning. If you tell me no, I will hand you this jacket, I will walk back down this hallway. I will get into the elevator and I will not bother you again, at home or in class."

He takes a deep breath and hesitates, just slightly, before removing his hand. He wants to close his eyes and wait for the damning "no," but he forces himself to look straight into Derek's eyes. Derek who isn't saying anything at all. It's Stiles' turn to swallow harshly. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, sighs.

"Message received, loud and clear," Stiles says. He moves to take the leather jacket off, but is stopped when he's pulled flush against the hard body in front of him.

Derek's hands are twisting into the fabric of Stiles' shirt and Stiles thinks that maybe he's going to be punched. But then Derek is whispering "yes" against his lips and is licking into his mouth and it's perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "back to life" by 3oh!3
> 
> i'm on [tumblr](http://jacksonwhipitmore.tumblr.com) under the same name, if you wanna say hi!
> 
> p.s. i think the frat names i chose might be actual frats so i'm going to put a quick **disclaimer: i am not in any way associated with any possible real fraternities or sororities.**
> 
> this was only beta'd once, when it was just halfway done, so i'm sorry for any mistakes.


End file.
